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Walmart films steak ad at CU-Boulder's Folsom Field

Discount giant expected to open grocery store this fall at Diagonal Plaza

By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer

Posted:
08/21/2013 08:38:59 PM MDT

Updated:
08/23/2013 04:27:56 PM MDT

As Walmart draws closer to opening a grocery store in Boulder, the discount retail giant has started airing a national TV ad filmed at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field.

The 30-second spot, a continuation of Walmart's hidden-camera "Steak-over" campaign, features an organizer of the Superior Tailgating Club serving Walmart steaks to unknowing Buff tailgaters.

Following the premise of other ads in the campaign -- where the steak is substituted for the meat at places such as Jimmy Kelly's Steakhouse in Nashville -- the Buffaloes fans were shown lauding the steaks and then expressing surprise when it was revealed they came from Walmart.

The commercial was filmed preceding the Buffs' home opener against Sacramento State on Sept. 8 of last year, said Matthew Conner, the tailgating club co-founder who was the only member of the group in on the gig. The commercial only was available online until this week, when the ad aired on network TV stations in places such as New York, Saint Louis, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Seattle, Conner said.

"I'm getting (calls from) people from all across the country," Conner said Wednesday.

Conner said he was contacted by a casting agency late last summer and was told a brand "that everybody knows" would be interested in filming a commercial.

"I thought it was a prank, to be honest," he said.

After a call with the agency and Walmart officials, Conner gave the go-ahead and the company secured a $10,000 licensing contract with Buffalo Sports Properties, the media rights holder for CU, said Bronson Hilliard, a university spokesman.

CU did not want to pass up the opportunity to have the school's athletics and fan base given a national spotlight, said Matt Biggers, the school's associate athletic director of external affairs and chief marketing officer.

"For (Buffalo Sports Properties), it was a sponsorship opportunity from a revenue standpoint," Biggers said. "It's good exposure."

The ad did not sit well with one former Boulder resident who caught the commercial while watching Hawaii's local news Tuesday night.

Allison Barrett, a 37-year-old co-owner of web development firm Unixia LLC and a former online sales coordinator at the Daily Camera, said she and her partner, Josh, were caught off-guard by the TV spot.

"All of a sudden, it's, 'Wait, what? Walmart? Boulder? No!'" Barrett said Wednesday. "It was like our jaws dropped. Having lived in Boulder and worked there, I know how vehement they were against big-box stores, and for good reason -- they knock the mom-and-pop shops away ... which are a huge part of Boulder's infrastructure."

In a 30-second spot filmed at Folsom Field, Walmart continues its hidden-camera "Steak-over" campaign, this time featuring an organizer of the Superior Tailgating Club serving Walmart meat to unknowing Buffs fans.
(
Paul Aiken
)

Barrett said she was surprised to learn that Walmart was opening a grocery store at 2972 Iris Ave. in the Diagonal Plaza shopping center.

"It just made me sad, No. 1, once I found out Walmart was moving in," she said. "It really made me mad that CU-Boulder would let themselves be used that way or sell out ... like they were joining this corporate thing that Boulder has always been against."

Over the past 20 years, residents and city leaders have rebuked Walmart's proposals to open a large-format Supercenter in Boulder.

When Walmart quietly moved forward on opening a 52,000-square-foot grocery store -- an allowable use at Diagonal Plaza that did not require city approval -- and after company officials eventually confirmed the market's arrival, the push-back from some Boulder residents continued.

Several protests have taken place and city officials, including the deputy mayor, have lambasted the retailer, citing concerns about labor condition and wages.

Walmart officials have responded with statements highlighting that the company is serving the needs of the residents in the area by selling groceries at lower prices and by offering "competitive wages and good benefits."

The store is expected to open this fall. An opening date has not been set.

Superior Tailgating Club organizer Conner said he was aware that broader concerns exist about the retailer, but as a Walmart shopper himself, he believes the company's prices allow for under-served and lower-income populations to have greater buying power.

Jonathan Schoenberg, executive creative director and partner at ad firm TDA-Boulder, says Walmart is a "curious beast" in how it has become the largest provider of natural and organic foods but also carries a negative reputation among some people.

Basing a commercial in Boulder -- a hub of the natural and organic industry -- could be a means of highlighting Walmart's offerings in that category.

"Boulder represents, obviously, a healthy and somewhat natural and organic lifestyle, and I'm sure that it puts (Walmart) closer to a positioning that they aspire to, which is a great organic (retailer)," Schoenberg said.

When contacted Wednesday, Walmart representatives said they could not immediately comment on the commercial.

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